I am interested in the area of collection development, thus, as an intern, I worked with MCPL children's materials selector Martha Odya for a couple of sessions to get a feel for what tools she most often uses when selecting books. Martha gave me the consensus that selecting is a lot like putting together a patchwork quilt and getting all of the pieces to fit. The library buys copies of all award winners. From there, books that were nominated for awards, were bestsellers, have been requested by patrons, or have been getting author or book buzz are considered to see if they fit the library's collection development policy. Multiple reviews are used to determine whether or not an item is suitable, and, often if there are sample pages Odya will look at them, too. The one exception to this is that vendors will sometimes "bundle" items together without a selector knowing exactly what the library is getting. In that case, if an item is deemed unsuitable it can be sent back to the publisher. Since online vendors appear later in this article, this section will focus on various review tools selectors may use to build a collection.
School Library Journal
School Library Journal is a great selection tool available in print as well as online. While it does require a subscription, some reviews are available for free on the library's site, which is highly browsable. Besides offering succinct, informative reviews School Library Journal gives reliable age range recommendations for children's files. Other information, including prices, ISBN numbers, publishers and more are often but not always included in the entries. On the site, blogs, newsletters, and a host of digital media links that are frequently updated supplement the actual reviews.
This tool actually proved to be really useful recently when selecting materials to write for my MCPL book blog choice activity. I used reviews to help narrow down what titles I would cover. MCPL also uses School Library Journal reviews to come up with the age ranges on the blog since they are notoriously reliable. In the future, I expect this resource to come in handy for collection development as well as on my personal blog and Goodreads reviews.
I believe I first encountered this tool in Collection Development class. I did not have access to the resource until I worked at MCPL; however, Novelist often features the School Library Journal reviews.
Kirkus Reviews are probably more comprehensive than SLJ reviews. However, instead of focusing on younger age titles, Kirkus covers everything, including nonfiction, fiction, and genre fiction for all ages. The site is also really browseable and plenty of reviews are available online. Kirkus' presence online is strong. The site links out to Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook and is even connected to Amazon and Barnes and Noble, where page viewers can immediately purchase the titles they just read about. The site also features decent book reviews.
Since Kirkus is connected with Amazon, I have used their reviews in Readers Advisory courses and at work prior. However, I had not checked out the booklists until recently and will probably spend more time with them in the future.
I encountered this tool first via chance by browsing books on Amazon.
Booklist, like SLJ, offers a subscription format as well as some online reviews. However, this source really pushes subscribing from the get-go. Booklist features a spotlighted genre, a review of the day and other fun browsing options on the front page. Besides some reviews, newsletters and even Webinars are available on the resources website. Webinars require registration.
Currently, I do not have access to Booklist so, since many reviews are not available, I do not frequently head to the site. In the future, with a subscription, I would likely use the site more often.
I first encountered Booklist in Collection Development Management; however, I have seen the Booklist hard copies at this point in my life, and they are super nicely laid out.
The Workbook for Selection offers the basic layout and key points needed for a selection policy, a sample reconsideration policy is also included, along with ethics lessons about the responsibilities of librarians and possible procedures. It is a handy tool, especially if a library does not have a specific policy in place.
I am happy I read over this policy because it further cements what I encountered in Collection Development class. In the future, I would use it again if I was in a position where I needed to create my own selection policy.
I found this earlier on in the semester when I was browsing links for an Intellectual Freedom paper about challenges.
Selection Tools: Review Sources
I am interested in the area of collection development, thus, as an intern, I worked with MCPL children's materials selector Martha Odya for a couple of sessions to get a feel for what tools she most often uses when selecting books. Martha gave me the consensus that selecting is a lot like putting together a patchwork quilt and getting all of the pieces to fit. The library buys copies of all award winners. From there, books that were nominated for awards, were bestsellers, have been requested by patrons, or have been getting author or book buzz are considered to see if they fit the library's collection development policy. Multiple reviews are used to determine whether or not an item is suitable, and, often if there are sample pages Odya will look at them, too. The one exception to this is that vendors will sometimes "bundle" items together without a selector knowing exactly what the library is getting. In that case, if an item is deemed unsuitable it can be sent back to the publisher. Since online vendors appear later in this article, this section will focus on various review tools selectors may use to build a collection.
School Library Journal
1. School Library Journal. 2011. Media Source Inc. 20 March 2012.http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/csp/cms/sites/SLJ/Home/index.csp
Kirkus Reviews
2. Kirkus Reviews. 2012. Kirkus Reviews. 20 March 2012. http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Booklist
3. Booklist. 2012. American Library Association. 20 March 2012. http://www.booklistonline.com/home
Bonus: Selection Policy Resource
ALA Workbook for Selection
4. "Workbook for Selection." 2012. American Library Association. 20 March 2012.
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=dealing&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11173